Post navigation

Quotes

I’ve heard a few quotes lately, and I want to respond to them. Here’s one:

Iris Gaines: You know, I believe we have two lives.
Roy Hobbs: How… what do you mean?
Iris Gaines: The life we learn with and the life we live with after that.
-The Natural

Hm. I have to disagree with this one. You see, we live while we learn. But at the same time, you can learn while you live. In fact, since you’re always living, you’re always learning. It’s an ongoing process until your eyes turn blank and you are free from this life. I understand if you think otherwise, but it’s just the way I see it.

“According to sociologist Robert Merton, U.S. culture places too much emphasis on success as a valued goal. From kindergarten to college, teachers prod students to achieve the American dream. Parents and coaches pressure Little League players not just to play well but to win. The media often glorify winning not only in sports but also in business, politics, and other arenas of life. This emphasis on success motivates hard work, thereby contributing to society’s prosperity. But at the same time, people are not equally provided with legitimate means (such as good jobs and other opportunities) for achieving success. There is, then, an inconsistency between too much emphasis on the success goal and too little emphasis on the availability of legitimate means for achieving that goal. Such inconsistency produces a strain among some people, pressuring them to achieve through what Merton calls innovation– using illegitimate means of achieving success, such as committing robbery to selling drugs.
(Adapted from Thio, Society, Myths, and Realities, p.175)

I found this in my Reading for Results book, on page 316. I found it interesting because it, and I’m using a math metaphor here, intersected my idea. If an idea was the same as mine, it would be parallel. If it was totally off, it would be perpendicular. But this one simply intersected.

I agreed in the fact that our society was based very heavily on success, but I had not realized that too much pressure to do well would result in eventual psychological impairment. Maybe some of the 4.0 students I know now have something in store for them in the future.